State’s incarceration rate highest in nation
By Sid Salter
Columnist
The Mississippi Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations for the State Department of Corrections
– the state’s prison system – included $424.3 million from the General Fund, State
Support Special Funds of $7.5 million, $19.5 million in federal funds, and other special
funds of $27.07 million for a total of $458.9 million.
Those funds support the incarceration of 19,242 inmates as of Aug. 23. That comes out
to be just under $23,849 annually per inmate. 10,672 of those inmates are housed in
the big three state prisons at Parchman, Central Miss. Correctional in Rankin County,
South Miss. Correctional in Leakesville and several smaller, more specialized state
facilities.
About 1,297 inmates are in county jails. Another 533 are in community work centers.
Some 4,489 are in regional correctional facilities. Around 2,194 inmates are in private
prisons. Restitution centers house 142 inmates with 15 inmates in transitional housing.
It would make sense that Mississippi taxpayers would, as former Gov. Haley Barbour
famously said during his eight years in office, want to “decide who they’re mad at and
who they’re afraid of.” In other words, draw distinctions between inmates who represent
an actual danger to society and merit the expenditure of nearly $24K a year to house,
feed and guard them and those who don’t.
Mississippi’s prison system has a capacity of just under 22,093 and a population of
19,242. Recidivism – or repeat offenders after serving prison time – is 37.1% in
Mississippi in 2023. At the same time, Mississippi has bounced between the nation’s
highest incarceration rate (661 per 100,000 state residents) and second or third on the
list over the last five years.
Our state’s incarceration rate at 661 is over twice the national average of 311.
Mississippi didn’t come to this status overnight. Rising crime, the rising perceptions of
crime and declining public safety gave birth – nationally and in Mississippi – to
legislation that had unintended consequences.
In 1995, Mississippi lawmakers followed national trends in attempting to “get tough on
crime.” But in doing so, the lawmakers also dramatically increased the state’s prison
population and therefore the operating costs of the state prison system.
The Legislature adopted the so-called “85 percent rule” which mandated that all state
convicts must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for
parole. Mississippi’s law sharply contrasted with other states, where the 85 percent rule
applied only to violent offenders.
The law had a tremendous impact. On June 30, 1993, the Mississippi Department of
Corrections had 9,629 prisoners with a capacity of 9,164. By the end of 1998, the
figures jumped to 16,695 and 16,007, respectively.
The rise and fall of the 85 percent rule is a follow-the-numbers game – even after steps
were taken in 2008 to lessen the impact of the sentencing guidelines. In May 2002,
there were 21,751 state inmates with 2,829 in private prisons and 17,490 convicts on
probation or parole. By May 2012, there were 25,572 state inmates with 3,110 in private
prisons and 35,242 convicts on probation or parole.
After the failures of the 85 percent rule and the rapid introduction of private prisons as
solutions to growing mass incarceration costs, it became clear that private prisons were
no panacea.
While certainly a worthy goal, corrections and criminal justice reforms can’t have the
singular goal of saving money – public safety remains the priority. But there are without
question the means of reducing Mississippi’s incarceration numbers that allow us to
save tax dollars while bolstering public safety.
Technology exists to make house arrest for non-violent crime a workable solution.
Parole system and sentencing reforms tied to mandatory work release programs are
also working in other states as a means of reducing the costly warehousing of non-
violent first-time offenders.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain has tried many innovative programs
in his leadership of the state’s prison system since his appointment with Gov. Tate
Reeves. But no reform would be more beneficial to the system than reducing the
incarcerated population and Cain will need partners in the Mississippi Legislature to
accomplish and implement that.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
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